the_paradigm_conflictfandomcom-20200213-history
The Overlords of Paradigm City
Far too often, superheroes and other law enforcement agents are so bruised and battered after having stopped some major crime that they fail to or lose the ability to rend the viel; tearing away the darkness that hides the true criminals of Paradigm City: The Advent Overlords. Each of the Overlords acts as the eyes and ears of Mastermind, directing criminal activites in the city or city region they have been put in charge of. Every single crime that takes place in that area happens at the command of an Overlord. The Overlords are the backbone of The Advent; if Heroes Unlimited or any other law enforcment agency were to bring down the Overlords the entire Advent would collapse and the Paradigm Conflict would come to an end and Paradigm City would become the grand old lady she was always meant to be. History of The Overlords Prior to the Extant Event, colloquially known as The Vanishing, the Overlords and the concept of Overlords simply didn't exist. Thaks to the unified crime fighting front of the heroes of Paradigm City crime was at a minimum, there were few criminals powerful enough to even create a team of like-minded individuals, much less sustain one. That all changed after the Event. After the Event, however, Paradigm City was ripe for plundering. That's precisely what happened, with such out of control violence taking place that once decent and respectable neighborhoods like Millennium City's Row and The Tower District were all but reduced to rubble. From the chaos rose Mister K, a hyper-intelligent anthropomorphic gorilla whom quickly established an quasi-military organization called The Advent, which for the first six months of its life secretly assisted law enforcement in taming the riots. Once the city was relatively stable, Mister K allotted sections of the city to be governed by a specific criminals. The crime bosses, The Overlords, would be answerable to Mister K and the governing body of the Advent--the other Overlords--and charged with keeping their neighborhoods in check. The system worked, and within a year the Advent had become the premier criminal organization in Paradigm City. After two years had passed, the Advent and it's ruling Overlords were seeing such success that Mister K became complacent, which was his downfall. Mister K's lack of attention opened the door for Dr. Raymond Shellgul, the Overlord of Steel Beach, to instigate a quick but bloody coup that resuted in Mister K's death and the Advent coming under the control of Shelgul, The Great One. But Shelgul's empire would prove to be short lived. The Overlord of Millennium City, Jason Wynnegard, had long been waiting his time; watching, and listening and the moment Shelgul let his guard slip he was dead, murdered on the spot by Mastermind. Wynngard then openly declared himself the leader of the Advent and chalnneged all comers to try and takes the throne from him. Nobody came. Most of the crimials in Paradigm City, thinking in retrospect, found themselves quite glad that no one stepped up to he plate. Mastermind reorganized the entire Advent, establishing laws and bylaws that benefited every criminal involved. All criminals, regardless of reputation or status, were promised medical care, legal assistance, and financial compensation for not only themselves but their immediate family members as well. Mastermind offered great incentives for criminals to contributes goods to the Advent coffers and servives from one criminal to another backed by warranties and service guarantees. As Cleopatra had done with Heroes Unlimited, Mastermind transformed The Advent into a business conglomerate. More so that all of these reforms, Mastermind ensured loyalty by selecting the best and the brightest of the criminal world and making them Overlords as well. No longer were there Overlords watching over a city, but a gaggle of Overlords watching over each district and zone of each city. Heroes thus closing in on the arch-villain of a city suddenly found themselves battling five or six arch-villains instead. The Advent, and the Overlords, had come into their own. The Overlords As mentioned previously, Mastermind supplanted the idea of a single Arch-villain overlooking a city and instead broke down each city into its component zones and assigning an Overlord to each of those zones. This has resulted in unfettered and astonishing cooperation between Advent agents to unprecedented levels, making the Advent both more stable and more dangerous to heroes than ever before. Each Overlord also has their own elite groups, teams, and agents; which create even greater havoc for Heroes Unlimited. The Overlords and their teams are thus presented in Alphabetical order, rather than be city and region. Among themselves, the Overlords don't really get along very well. Only their fear of Mastermind (and Cataclysm) keeps them mostly in line; but spats do occur. Parasol and Snapdragon have been warring over territory for a year. Black Paladin refuses to allow any other Overlord to operate within his territory. None of the Overlords like Scarcrow. There are trues in place as well, however. Vile and Arsenic have an uneasy friendship, Bitter Pill and Dire Invictus are on fairly good terms, and Onryo just ignores everyone. However, they are quick to leap to each others' aid: should Heroes Unlimited openly attack one Overlord it is almost certain that the Overlords of the surrounding areas would enter the fray as well; if for no other reason than to protect their own holdings. 'Arsenic, Overlord of the Mesa District; Darkness Falls' The Arsenic that currently rules the bizarre all-female crime unit known as The Arsenic Dolls is actually the second woman to hold that name. The original Arsenic, Holly Holmes, was a United State Marine Sargent whom had lost her sanity in the Iraq War. She promised Parasol, whom at that time was engaged in a war with the Black Rabbit Clan, that she would fight on the Arch-Villain's behalf if only Parasol would restore her sanity. Parasol did do, and Sargent Holmes immediately surrendered to the United States Marine Corps and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for her crimes. Outraged, Parasol scoured the ranks of her very own Circus of Sorrows and found exactly what she was looking for in prestidigitatior and Attendant Vanessa DeVille. Parasol promised DeVille great power as the new Arsenic, an opportunity which DeVille Jumped at. Parasol went further is securing Arsenic's loyalty by ensorcering her so that any act of betrayal would result in her immediate death but, as Arsenic is still alive and breathing, her loyalty speaks for itself. Unlike Holly Holmes, whom relied on military grade firepower in her battles, Vanessa DeVille has formidable and frightening powers as Arsenic. She is able, with a touch, to inflict any number of virulent poisons and toxins into the bloodstream of her victim. These poisons range from mild--just enough to make one feel nauseous-- to deadly--a triple dose of cobra venom. She is a masterful hand-to-hand combatant and he skills as a prestidigator makes it seems as though she is far more skilled and super-powered than she really is. Like her predecessor, Arsenic commands a formidable army of about 50 young ladies known for their explosive work, particularly with hurling Molitov cocktails. In cases where super-humans become involved in the Arsenic Dolls activities, Arsenic will unleash her elite team: The Seven Deadly Sisters. *Hentai leads the Sisters, She can manipulate and control darkness. *Otaku is a Sister with the power to control and manipulate earth and stone. *Kawaii has actually been called fun and cute, and she has an array of mental powers. *Asylum Is a killer, anadolescent capable of conjuring up psyacic weaponry *Haiku is a superb martial artist whom fights with a pair of butterfly swords *Noh is a kimono-clad beauty capable of conjuring, manipulating, and controlling ice and cold, and *Cosplay is the team brick, having superhuman strength and remarkable resistance to damage. Bitter Pill, Overlord of The Bucket Please see the The Bucket and The B-Girls entries for more detailed information. Black Paladin, Overlord of Cagliostro In the age of Arthur Pendragon, Giles DeMorphant was a name synonymous with murder, violence, and brutality. As the Black Paladin he was feared all across Britain, where the Celts did worship him as a god and the Knights of the Round Table cowered at the mere mention of his name. Woman would sacrifice themselves to him, men would fall on their swords to avoid his wrath, and all the wealth of the known world belonged to him. At least, that's how Black Paladin tells it. Whether his bragging has a kernel of truth in it or not there are very few whom can deny that DeMorphant is as close to pure evil incarnate as a being can get. He, the Emperor-Pro-Tem of the independent nation of Cagliostro, is publicly known to be one of the most virulent black magicians on the West Coast. Despite threats by the United Nations to level many sanctions on Cagliostro DeMorphant has never outright admitted that he is in actually the Arch-Villain Black Paladin, nor has any hero group or Law Enforcement been able to prove their suspicions. Those heroes whom have battled the Paladin, both on Cagliostro and elsewhere, report that he is a frightening individual that must never be taken lightly. The Black Paladin seems to be atemporal, not succumbing to the ravages of time, the need for food or sleep, poisons, drugs, toxins, or diseases. He can command the meaner things in life: the rat, the bat, the wolf, and all manner of vermin respond to his call as loving minions. He can conjure up terrific storms, animate the corpses of the dead or vile spirits to fight on his behalf, and strike madness in a foe simply by lifting up his visor so that they may see what's underneath. This aforementioned helmet protects him against sudden flash attacks and provides a tremendous amount of resistance to mental powers. His black plate armor is as light on him as a bathrobe, and can withstand even military-grade firepower. His black kite shield, emblazoned with the crest of a horrifying vampire bat, can reflect or deflect any ranged attack, and automatically rebounds any kind of offensive spell back onto the caster. His weapon, a great heavy spiked mace named Dracula is capable of fighting on its own and can, at his command, return instantly to his hand. It also has the capacity to shape into four other different weapons: A sword that flames on command and ignores armor, a Bishops flail that can explode upon striking and sends opponents flying tremendous distances, and a spear that can punch through armor or fire an eldritch bolt that ignores any barriers between itself and the target. As strong as he is, however, Black Paladin is not without his weaknesses. He cannot cross any barrier protected by salt, nor can he set foot on hallowed ground or he risks immolating instantly. He cannot enter the home of a faithful religious observer without first being invited inside, and those people that place their faith unshakably on the icon or symbol of their religion will stop the Paladin in his tracks. Most magic-using heroes are well-aware of whom the Black Paladin is, and the vile magic he represents. Smart magic-using heroes know to approach him with extreme caution; and for good reason. If they are not tangling with the Paladin himself they may end up locked into combat with the Kinship Curor, or "Brothers of Blood." These four magic-fueled criminals are the strongest and most loyal representatives that the Black Paladin has and where he goes they tend to go too. *'Wytchcraft '''is in charge of the Curor and although publically promotes herself as Lady Diana DeMorphant, Gile's 60 year old mother, she is actually one of Paladin's direct blood descendants. She has devoted her life to serving the Paladin's will and the black arts both. She can utilize clairvoyance and clairaudience through the use of specially crafted mirrors and crystal balls, conjure up evil or tormented spirits to provide her with information, brew up all manner of potions which can give her or her allies an eye-popping assortment of physical powers, and sling bolts of eldrich energy. Wytchcraft rarely leaves Cagliostro, preferring to guide and advise from behind the safety of an enchanted mirror. *'Rune 'is the team's mentalist. She is fairly resistant to mental powers herself and can pinpoint the use of and wielder of mental abilities with a clarity that has few peers. She is capable of sensing danger to herself in her immediate vicinity, overloading synapses to inflict excrutiating pain on her victim, perform very limited mind control, drain victims of psychic energy, and attack at range with glowing darts she calls psychic shards. She has also been known to have prophetic dreams and been able to enter the Dream Zone in order to wreck havoc on the sanity of sleeping foes. *'Pagan 'is an enigma. Whether he is a mutant, a dangeous alien, or a creature conjured up by magic has never been ascertained, and Pagan himself isn't telling. His origin becomes ever more perplexing because he registers on mutant detectors, pings as a magical creature, ''and ''apparently has alien DNA. He is the very image of the classic devil: Seven feet high, red skinned, with horns atop his head, a pointy black beard, a spade tail, and fur coated hooved legs. He is able to hurl fireballs and tongues of flame in battle but relies on his standard brute powers most: He can transform his skin into a red steel-like substance which grants him terrific super-human strength and resistance to firepower and ordinance. *'Cadaver '''was truly a name to be reckoned with, thirty years ago. Back then he was a true mastermind, consistently causing trouble for the Defenders League and known as the arch-nemesis of the hero Nosferatu. But, alas, time has robbed him of his former glory; now it is only the rare historian whom remembers Cadaver at all, a fact he resents. Cadaver as had a lot of time to study magic and experiment with new spells and, as a result, as become am undead wizard of such power even Black Paladin would think twice about crossing him. Cadaver has not revealed this information to anyone, as he is content for the time being to watch and to wait until the moment is ripe for him to become the new Arch-Villain of Cagliostro. Cataclysm The man known as Cataclysm is the Overlord of the Citywalk district of Millennium City, and is the second in command of the entire Advent. She answers to Mastermind alone, and it is through Cataclysm that Mastermind issues his instructions and orders to the other crime bosses and criminals within Paradigm City. Truth be told, Cataclysm is a villain that most of the other Overlords fear, and for very good reason. Cataclysm is considered the strongest man in the world, beating out even the legendary Durak of Eurostar. Cataclysm can lift and carry in excess of 200 tons, and his resistance to damage is phenominal: bombs, bullets, fire; nothing seems to be able to affect him in the slightest. His force of will is so strong he can shrug off all but the most potent mental assaults. There are very few criminals whom would dare to challenge this man, and only the strongest of heroes would. Cataclysm has been known to absolutely devastate entire teams of superheroes. He once went toe to toe with Paragon in a battle that destroyed half of Millennium City and the two only managed to fight to a stand still. Oddly enough, Cataclysm has openly stated that should anything happen to Mastermind, he would ''not ''step up and take Wynnegard's place as leader of the Advent but would, instead, support Snapdragon for the position. To learn about the remaining Overloards, please click here. And bring a tough superhero! Category:Overlords Category:Villains